Updated 11:47 pm, Wednesday, January 8, 2014

SAN ANTONIO — Jury selection had begun in Christopher Jones' trial Wednesday morning when he told his attorney he needed to step outside to call his father — and disappeared.

Jones, 31, was facing up to life in prison if convicted of an alleged aggravated assault of his ex-girlfriend in February 2012, during which police said she was hit in the face repeatedly with a gun and then her house was set on fire.

But soon after he stepped outside the court Wednesday, authorities were notified he'd cut off his GPS ankle monitor that he had been wearing while awaiting trial on house arrest.

Defense attorney Scott McCrum said his client stepped outside after saying he wanted to get his father's input on a legal matter they had been discussing.

“I don't know what happened or whether he talked to his dad,” McCrum said. “Obviously, he had a lot of anxiety on his part, and I guess it got the best of him.”

The last ping from the device came from Commerce and North Walters streets, about three miles from the courthouse on the East Side.

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State District Judge Ray Olivarri immediately issued an arrest warrant for Jones, making him a fugitive. Prosecutors potentially could add a felony bail-jumping charge to the list of offenses Jones now faces trial for.

McCrum said that as of Wednesday afternoon, he hadn't heard from his client.

“But if I do talk to him we'll discuss it and hopefully get him in and take care of it,” he said. “He wanted to take this to trial. There's issues with the credibility of the state's witnesses and that's why we're going to trial in the first place.”